


I Don't Want An Old, Less Glittery Version of You; I Want You

by Whiteheart97



Series: Malec Week 2016 [5]
Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec travles to 1878, Day 5: Back to the Future Day, He meets Magnus' friends from the past, I felt weird writting this okay?, Little Blueberry travels with him, M/M, Malec Week 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 10:52:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7798945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whiteheart97/pseuds/Whiteheart97
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Day 5 (August 17th): Back to the Future Day - What if Alec met Magnus in a different time setting, say around the time of the Circle, TID or TLH takes place or even before that. Or Alec accidentally ends up in the past"</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Don't Want An Old, Less Glittery Version of You; I Want You

**Author's Note:**

> We're already at day 5 of Malec Week, why is this so short and fast? I want to cry :'(
> 
> The title for this fic gave me a big headache, so I finally took one of the lines at the end and rewrote it for the title.
> 
> Enjoy this fic, bcs it was weird to write but so much fun and there's a lot of cuteness ahead (courtesy of little Max).
> 
> Loveeee ♥♥  
> -C

_ I Don’t Want An Old, Less Glittery Version of You; I Want You _

 

When Alec opened his eyes he was a bit confused at first. Where the hell was he? The last thing he remembered from the day before was being in the loft with Magnus and the children… What the hell had happened?

 

“Oh, hello there, Sleeping Beauty” a rather familiar voice called from the other side of the room. Alec took a look around the place. It didn’t look familiar, it looked old, and dusty… As if from another century. His gaze finally focused in the figure of the man standing a few feet away from the bed, where he was currently laying.

Alec tried to speak, but no words would come out. He cleared his throat in an attempt at getting his voice back. “Where are we?” he finally managed to ask.

“You’re in my house, darling” the other man answered. Alec’s brow furrowed in confusion. That couldn’t be, he knew if Magnus owned a house like this one.

“No, Magnus, that’s not possible, you don’t own a house like this” the man perked up at the mention of his name, quickly approaching the bed where Alec was, now in a sitting position. Alec was even more confused by the strange clothes Magnus was wearing. It was true that the warlock possessed some extravagant clothes, but he would have noticed if he had that kind of outfit in his closet —they did share a house, for the Angel’s sake, and they had for a few years now—.

“How do you know my name? I don’t recall a formal introduction” Alec raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

“You’re kidding, right Magnus?”

“It’s Mr. Bane for you, I don’t even know your name” a look of pain flashed through Alec’s eyes. How come Magnus didn’t remember him, his husband?

“You really don’t remember me?”

“I have quite a good memory, but I don’t recall ever meeting you before. I mean, I most certainly would remember someone like you” Magnus said in a flirtatious tone.

“Okay, what is going on? Where am I?”

“You’re in my house in London, sweetie” Magnus replied with a sarcastic smile.

“But… How? Last night I was in our loft in New York…”

“What are you talking about? ‘ _Our_ ’?” Magnus asked, confused.

Alec sighed. “I’m Alexander Lightwood, your husband” Magnus stared at him wide-eyed.

“Honey, I would remember if I were married” Magnus tried to reason.

“Well, I do remember our wedding” Alec said back, starting to get annoyed by the whole situation. “Unless… Which date is it today?”

“August 17th, why?” Magnus answered quickly, as if everyone should know which day it was.

“Year, Magnus, I need the year” Alec said, rather frustrated.

“1878… Why are you so strange?”

“Oh, Angel, this is not happening” Alec buried his head in his hands. How could it be possible? Had he really travelled to the past? To 1878 no less? Oh, shit, if he did something crazy it would change the future, he may even not get to know Magnus in his time.

“Do you mind sharing what’s on your head? I can’t understand this situation” Magnus said, starting to get upset as well.

“Okay, I know this might sound crazy, but I come from the future” Magnus stared at him with his brow furrowed before he burst into laughing.

“Okay, good, that one was funny. Now, please, stop with the jokes and tell me the truth”

“That’s the truth! I was born in 1989, which explanation can you find for me being in 1878 other than time-travelling?”

“But that’s not possible, my dear, not even for a warlock like me”

“Well, it may not be possible now, but it definitely is in the future. Why else am I here?”

Magnus stopped for a second to think about it carefully. “Okay, we need to get you back to your decade as soon as possible” he promptly said.

“Weren’t you the one saying that time-travelling is impossible?”

“I will have to check with a few friends of mine so we can work together in… creating a portal that allows time-travelling. Just… let me send some fire messages” and just like that, Magnus disappeared from plain sight.

 

 

***

 

 

_2016_

Magnus was screwed. Like really screwed. How had he let that happen? He should have stopped the children when he was still able to. Now Alec was stuck in whatever century he had been sent to and in whatever place the stupid time-travelling portal had decided was good.

 

When the buzzer rang the morning after the incident, Magnus ran to open the door. He had the tiny hope that, somehow, the unfinished portal had portalled Alec to a faraway place and not to another time, and he just got back home. However, when the door opened, he froze in place as he saw Isabelle Lightwood standing there. How the hell was he going to tell to his sister-in-law that Alec had magically disappear because their 7 years old son did some spell too near the time-travelling portal and he had activated it? This wasn’t going to be easy.

 

“Isabelle Lightwood! To what do I owe this pleasure?” Magnus stepped aside, letting the black-haired shadowhunter come into the room.

“Where is my brother, Bane? I’ve been trying to contact him for hours!” she yelled angrily.

“Well… There might have been a problem…” Magnus said, dragging the words and adding a sweet tone to it to not worry her.

“What kind of problem exactly, Magnus?” Isabelle, however, seemed even angrier.

“You… You do remember the portal that I’m creating to allow time-travelling, do you?”

“What. Have. You. Done, Magnus Bane?”

“Nothing! I swear! It wasn’t MY fault” he tried to defend himself without success, because Isabelle wasn’t buying it.

“Are you blaming my brother?” and she got angrier with each word that left the warlock’s mouth.

“I’m actually blaming your nephew” he corrected her.

“Explain yourself. Now” she ordered.

“Max and Rafael were playing last night, running around the loft like they always do, while Alexander and I watched some TV and kept an eye on them. When Max stepped a bit too close to the portal, Alec immediately went to take him away. But Max casted a spell, a harmless one, to tickle Rafe, but… his magic awoken the portal and… Max and Alec were kind of… Abducted, or something like that”

“AND WHY THE HELL AREN’T YOU TRYING TO GET MY BROTHER AND NEPHEW BACK?” she screamed, reaching a point when Magnus thought she couldn’t get any angrier now.

“I’m trying to, I swear!! My fellow warlocks are coming to help, they’re on their way… I just hope they’re both together”

“What do you mean?” Isabelle asked, trying to calm down.

“I’m almost positive they’re both in the same century —I don’t think the same portal can send two different people to two different decades at the same time—, but I’m not sure if they we’re portalled to the same location”

“I’m going to kill you, Magnus” she assured him. “And my brother will too when he gets back”

“Can you just… focus and help me? I need to get some things ready before my mates arrive”

 

Isabelle huffed in annoyance, reaching for her phone to call Simon, letting him know everything that had happened. In less than ten minutes, Simon, Jace, Clary and Lydia were at Magnus’ and Alec’s loft, doing as much as they could to bring Alec and little Blueberry back to their time safe and sound.

 

 

***

 

 

_1878_

He didn’t know when he had fallen asleep, but the next thing Alec remembered was waking up surrounded by a group of at least eight people. He could recognize a few faces: Tessa —the warlock that went to Jocelyn’s and Luke’s wedding—, Ragnor and Catarina —two old friends of Magnus—, and the warlock himself. The other three boys and one woman, however, were pretty much strangers to him.

 

“What are you all doing here?” Alec asked, still half asleep.

“I made them come so they could help me get you back to your time” Magnus answered. “I explained them your situation… Or the part that I know at least. Do you remember how did you get here?”

Alec shook his head. “No… Not really. I just remember being with my family, late at night, relaxing after a long day hunting demons, and… I can’t remember what happened then, I don’t know why or how I am here…”

"Okay, this is going to be harder than what we had previously thought" Ragnor said.

"Fine, Alec, tell us everything you remember, with as much detail as you can" Tessa asked him gently.

Alec hesitantly nodded. "I remember my Parabatai calling me really early in the morning because the previous night a few mundanes were attacked by demons. We checked the damage, controlled the demon activity, and that night, after dinner, we went on patrol and killed a few demons before going back home. I took a shower, because the ichor is quite disgusting..." the Shadowhunters that were in the room nodded in agreement. "Then I sat on my sofa with my husband and children to watch some TV..." he completely ignored the weird faces they made at the mention of the TV —they obviously didn't know what a TV was, but he couldn't bring himself to care in that moment—. "... And that's all I can remember"

"What's a TV?" one of the guys that Alec didn't know asked.

"It's, ammm... a modern device? I don't know how to explain. It's like... like some kind of box and you can see people inside... Not as if they are trapped inside!" he quickly added. "They film something and then you can watch it on your TV... Angel, I'm so bad at explaining things, can we forget that I said anything?"

Magnus nodded. "Sure thing" he turned to face his friends. "Okay, we have to get to work. Alec, can you tell me the exact year and place you live in?"

Alec nodded. "Sure. It's 2016, and I live in Brooklyn, New York"

"Okay then, we have the time and the place. Now, let's get going" Magnus clapped his hands.

 

They all walked towards a table in the middle of the room and sat around it, discussing how would they manage to send Alec back to his century. Then there was a soft knock on the door. Tessa quickly got up from her chair and went to open the door, as if it was her own house. A little child, who was around 7 years old, with blue skin and hair and horns was there. Tessa smiled gently, recognizing the child as a warlock. He was probably lost.

 

"Hello there, little one. Can I help you?" she asked in a soft, sweet voice.

The little child nodded, a sob escaping through his lips. "I don't know where I am, and I can't find my fathers or my brother" he sniffled, and Tessa nodded, about to say something.

Though the child had spoken very quietly, Alec had clearly heard his voice, and he jumped from the bed and ran towards the door. "Maxie?" he asked the little boy.

"Daddy?" the child looked up at him, quickly jumping in his father's arms. "Daddy!" he yelled. "Where are we? Where is papa? Where is Rafe?"

"It's a long story, Blueberry. Come in and I will tell you" he said, hugging the child dearly against his chest and walking into the room again. They sat on bed, Max on top of his dad, as Alec caressed his tiny blue arm lovingly. "Look, son, we... we are in London"

"Did papa portal us here while we were sleeping?" the child looked at him through the tears in his eyes.

Alec shook his head. "No, Maxie. I don't really know what happened, but we are in London and 1878"

The child perked up at this. "We travelled to the past? How cool!" he screamed in excitement.

"It's not cool at all. You know that truly terrible, horrible things will happen if we do something to alter the past, papa has warned you before" the child nodded in understatement.

"And what are we gonna do? Are we never going to see papa or Rafael again?" he asked with a pout.

"We will, I promise you that. I'm sure your papa is already working on taking us back home, and aunt Izzy is probably helping him"

Max nodded, snuggling against his father's chest. "I want to go back home"

"So do I, Maxie, so do I..." Alec said, pinching his son's cheek lovingly.

Someone —who Alec later saw was Ragnor— cleared his throat. "Do you mind introducing us, Alec?" he asked.

"Sure" Alec answered, getting up from the bed with Max by his side. "Though there's a few of you who I don't have the pleasure of knowing myself"

"But of course, how rude from us" said another man that Alec didn't know. "I'm Henry Branwell, and this is my wife, Charlotte Branwell" he gestured towards the woman that Alec didn't recognize.

"Isn't that Lydia's last name, dad?" Max asked him.

Alec nodded. "Yes, it is, Maxie"

"Who is that Lydia person?" Charlotte asked.

"My babysitter" Max answered cheerily.

"Lydia Branwell, she is an old friend of us; she moved to New York from Idris a few years ago and she usually babysits the children when we go out for dinner or meetings" Alec explained.

"I'll make the rest of the introductions" Tessa quickly offered. "I'm..."

"Tessa Gray, we know you. And so we know Ragnor and Catarina. Magnus introduced us quite a few years ago... Or he will, since we are in the past now" Alec finished for her.

"Is she the girl that played with me and Rafe when you and papa took aunt Clary and uncle Jace to the airport after their wedding?" Max asked then.

"Yes, Maxie, that's her" Alec nodded.

"I like her. I hope aunt Izzy will invite her to her wedding with uncle Simon" the child said animatedly.

"Oh, I bet she will. And if you ask her to do so, she will more than gladly do that little favor for you" Alec assured him. Max smiled widely and happily.

"Well, in that case, I guess we are the only ones that you don't know yet" one of the two yet unnamed boys said. "Gabriel Lightwood, and he's my brother Gideon"

Max looked up at his dad with wide eyes. "Are they family?" the child ask.

"Looks like they are" Alec answered. "A pleasure to meet you all... Though is kind of weird getting to know two of my ancestors" he looked around the room and then kneeled beside Max. "Well, as I suppose you all know already, I'm Alec Lightwood, and this is my son, Max"

"Max Lightwood-Bane" the child said proudly. Since they were little, Magnus and Alec had taught him and Rafael to always use both their last names, and so the children did.

"'Bane'?" Ragnor asked, throwing an amused smirk at Magnus. "Wow, you didn't tell us that piece of information”

Max looked in the same direction and his eyes lit up in excitement as he saw Magnus for the first time. "Dad! Why didn't you tell me that papa was here as well?" he tried to get rid of his father's strong arms to go hug his papa.

"No, Maxie" Alec stopped him. "This is your papa from the past, he doesn't know us yet"

"But he's papa, he looks like him" Max pouted.

"Of course he looks like him, honey, he will always look the same. But he is not the papa we left yesterday night at the loft"

"Okay..." Max said, sighing in defeat.

"So... Let's say in... 138 years I'll see this man married to a Shadowhunter and with a kid?" Ragnor asked in disbelief. "Oh, Magnus, that will be a nice surprise"

"Two kids, actually" Alec corrected. "Max and Rafael"

"How interesting" Ragnor said, looking indeed interested and amused.

"Well" Magnus said then, looking for a change of topic. "Do you happen to remember anything else, Alec?"

"No..." he quickly said, but an idea flashed through his mind. "Although... Max, do you remember what were you doing yesterday night? The last thing you remember"

"Of course I remember!" the child screamed cheerily. "Rafe and I were playing with some of papa's old necklaces and earrings. Then Rafe threw his shoe at me, and I started yelling and running after him all around the loft. Papa told us to calm down before we hurt each other, but we wouldn't listen because we were having fun" Alec laughed at his son's antics.

"Okay, something else?" Alec insisted.

"Yes, I... I was getting tired and leaned against the wall to recover. Papa yelled something, like I was too close to the portal or something like that, and then you were running towards me. I casted this funny spell papa taught me to tickle Rafael and the portal started glowing. It was so beautiful, dad!" he said excitedly.

"And that's how we ended up here" Alec said as realization downed on him. "Your magic activated the portal papa was working on. How many times do we have to tell you not to get near the objects papa is working on? They could be dangerous when they're not finished"

"I'm sorry, we were just playing" Max pouted.

"It's okay, Blueberry, I'm sure papa is working on it again to bring us home as soon as possible"

 

Max nodded, hugging Alec tightly. Alec really hoped Magnus was working on it.

 

 

***

 

 

_2016_

"Okay, so we're almost done. One of you will go and find Alec and Max while I keep the portal opened. Be quick, please, I don't want you to get stuck in another century as well"

"How do you know in which decade and where they are?" Clary questioned him.

"Because my memories from 1878 are slowly changing, so I'm starting to think they're at my house in London back in the 19th century. Can we please stick to the plan?" Magnus asked, more nervous with each passing second. Lilith, how he missed his Alexander and his little Blueberry.

"Simon and I will stay here to take care of Rafael" Clary offered. "Isabelle, Lydia and Jace can go find them"

They all nodded. "That sounds like a good plan to me" Jace agreed.

"Okay, so here we go" Magnus snapped his fingers, sending a blue spark in the direction of the portal. Slowly, the blurred image of what looked like an old living room started to form on the other side. "Now, it's the time. Let's go, get in there" Magnus ordered.

 

Isabelle nodded, stepping through the portal and taking Jace and Lydia with her.

 

 

***

 

 

_1878_

"So" Tessa started a few hours later, when they had finally stopped working to take a well-deserved break. "How did you and Magnus met?"

"During a mission. Jocelyn Fairchild's daughter, Clary, had had her memories of the Shadow World stolen by a warlock by her mother's request. That warlock was Magnus, and when she and my Parabatai were talking to him, a Circle member arrived and I killed him. Later that day, at Magnus' loft, we met formally and... Well, the rest of the story is quite long and not exactly the most beautiful one, but... I'm glad it all went well"

"I should hope so, since you're married and have adopted two children" Tessa pointed out.

"True" Alec smiled. He opened his mouth to speak again, but then a purple portal started to form in the middle of the room. Alec stared at him with narrowed eyes.

"Is that...?" Max started.

"The loft?" Alec completed and Max nodded. "I think so..."

 

Before anyone could say anything, three figures had come out of the portal and were now in front of them.

 

"Izzy!" Alec said in relief, hugging her sister with so much force he thought he would hurt her.

"Lydia!" Max yelled, jumping in Lydia's arms.

"Hey there, Blueberry" she smiled fondly at him. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, yay!" he said happily, making Lydia chuckle.

"Yeah, dude, I'm so happy to see that you both are fine, but Magnus asked us to be fast, so we better get going" Jace interrupted their little hugging session.

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Fine, let's go" she said turning around to face the portal.

Alec looked back at the people in the living room. "Thank you so much for all your help. Please, take care" he turned around as if to leave, but he faced them once more and spoke to Ragnor. "From the Magnus from the future: thank you, you give the best advice. You'll get it on time" Alec smiled widely at them before turning around and crossing the portal after Lydia and Isabelle, Max taking one of his hands and Jace patting him in the back.

"Well, that was weird" Henry said once they were gone.

"It was weird indeed" Magnus agreed.

 

 

***

 

 

_2016_

The moment Alec stepped through the portal with Max and Jace, Magnus let out a sigh of relief and then he closed the portal.

 

"Papa!" Max yelled, hugging Magnus who held him tightly against his chest.

"Blueberry" Magnus' voice was muffled against the child's hair. "Are you okay? Did you take good care of daddy?" Magnus asked, looking at Alec with a wide smile.

Max nodded. "Yes, papa, I did. We're perfect!" he said excitedly. Magnus and Alec laughed loudly, slightly amused by their son's antics. "Where is Rafe? I missed him"

"He's in his bedroom with aunt Clary and uncle Simon. Go see him, I bet he missed you too" Max quickly nodded in response and practically ran to his brother's bedroom.

"Well, our job is done here, so we better get going" Isabelle said, wrapping her arms around her brother. "I'm so happy that you're back"

"Yeah, me too" Alec said with a light chuckle.

"We'll see you tomorrow, okay?" she asked as she pulled away. Alec nodded, and then he led them to the door. Clary and Simon sprinted towards them as they left Rafael's bedroom. Clary gave Alec a quick hug and then they were gone.

 

Alec and Magnus stared at each other for a few seconds without saying a word.

 

"I guess we'll have to hide the portal or something. Now that we know how it works... I don't want this to happen again" Alec finally broke the silence.

Magnus chuckled loudly. "I couldn't agree more" he said. Again, silence flooded the room as Magnus and Alec stared at each other silently. Finally, Magnus rushed in Alec's direction, wrapping his arms tightly around his husband. "I was so worried for you and Max. I thought I'd never see any of you again"

Alec smiled, hugging him back. "I missed you too... And so did Max, believe me" he chuckled.

"So... What do you think of my past self?" Magnus asked, curious, as he pulled away.

Alec laughed and shook his head. "Quite similar to your present self, though a bit less glittery and sparkly... I guess that came with the years" Alec couldn't hold back a laugh.

"You think you're funny, but plot twist, you aren't" Magnus replied, but the corners of his mouth were tugging up into a smile.

Alec grinned widely. "I wouldn't trade you though, not even for an old, less glittery version of yourself"

"Technically, back in 1878 I was younger" Magnus said with a playful smile, his hands fumbling with Alec's shirt buttons.

Alec fully laughed this time. "Don't come at me with those ‘ _technically_ ’ of you now, I have... other things in mind"

"Oh" Magnus said as he threw his arms around Alec's neck, his playful smirk growing wider; "And what may those other things be?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out" Alec said in the same playful tone Magnus had used. The warlock's smile widened even more —if that was possible— as he leaned in to kiss Alec fully in the mouth. Alec kissed him back full force. "Angel, I really thought I was going to be stuck in 1878 for the rest of my life" Alec said in between kisses.

"Oh, Lilith, no" Magnus said back —when Alec gave him the chance—. "You would have had that much less fashionable version of me, but what would I have done without my beautiful Shadowhunter?"

Alec chuckled, which came out muffled against Magnus' lips, and then he stared at the warlock's cat eyes, since the glamour that usually covered them had fallen long minutes ago. "Magnus?" he asked in nothing more than a whisper. The warlock looked at him through his eyelashes with a questioning eyebrow raised. "Shut up and kiss me"

"Your wish is my command, my captain" and he kissed him again, lifting his legs off the floor to put them around his lover's waist.

 

They knew they still had to talk about what to do with the time-travelling portal now that they knew it worked, but that could wait until the morning, when Magnus got tired of Alec and Alec of Magnus... Who am I kidding? They would talk about it when Rafael and Max woke them up the next morning, jumping in their bed and demanding their breakfasts.

 

Oh, how they loved their little family...

**Author's Note:**

> As I re-read this for... I don't even know the th time, I decided I wanted more Past!Magnus and Present!Alec interaction, so maybe (and only maybe) I will post a sequel or something in a few months or so.
> 
> I hope you liked this!! <3


End file.
